Liverpool 1 Arsenal 1 - Prem (Oct 28 2007)

[TLW]

LIVERPOOL 1 Arsenal 1

Report by Dave Usher at Anfield

Scorer(s) - Steven Gerrard Half Time - 1-0 Venue - Anfield Date - Sun 28 October 2007 Star Man - Javier Mascherano

 

 

 

 

 

It’s difficult to take any positives from a game in which we were passed off the park by one of our main rivals, and in which three key players picked up injuries. Yet in a strange way I feel more encouraged after this game than I have following any since we thrashed Derby County to go top of the league.

I’m not even sure why I feel that way, as most of my mates were really disheartened at how this game went. I was too in a lot of ways, but at the same time I think we have to take a few things into consideration. Firstly, they are flying at the moment, and this isn’t the best time to be facing them. Secondly, we’re most certainly not flying, so again, it isn’t a good time to be facing them.

Nevertheless, we didn’t lose and that is hugely important, as psychologically a defeat here would have been devastating given the way we are struggling for form at the moment. Is it good enough? Of course not. I don’t like seeing us given the runaround at home, and let’s face it that’s what happened at times in this game. There were moments when I couldn’t help thinking back to that 2-2 game a few years ago when we were given a footballing lesson by Henry and co.

This wasn’t as bad as that, but there were some similarities. We got a result that night by digging in and scrapping, and we did the same here. They were clearly superior, but in terms of chances there was nothing in it really. We had as many opportunities as they did, even if ours weren’t created with as much style and panache.

People will be saying now how Arsenal are so much better than us and how we’re falling behind. That may be true, time will tell. However, for me a lot of it is down to timing. If we had played Arsenal two months ago, or two months from now, it could have been a different story entirely. But we’re struggling at the moment, and they are on top of their game. It was always going to be difficult.

When they knocked us out of two cups in a week last season everyone was creaming themselves over Arsenal, but come May they were below us in the table and we were in another European Cup final. That’s why I’m not reading too much into this game.

Our biggest problem is that we are carrying a few passengers at the moment. Reina, Carragher, Gerrard, Crouch and Mascherano were excellent, but that isn’t enough when you’re facing opposition of Arsenal’s class. You need eight or nine players on top form, and we didn’t have that. Voronin and Kuyt did very little in the wide attacking roles they were given, whilst Riise had an absolute nightmare.

Alonso showed some signs of ring rust in the first half, but played his way into the game, and had he not been forced off through injury I reckon we’d probably have got the three points. We’ve missed him terribly, and depressingly we will now have to do without him for several more weeks by the looks of it. Was he rushed back too early, or was it just bad luck?

I’d be inclined to put it down to bad luck, but in Torres’ case I’d say he definitely wasn’t ready to be brought back in, as he was blatantly unfit and did nothing in the 45 minutes he was on the field. It was no surprise when he was replaced at half time, and I just hope he’s ok for next week. Torres’ lack of fitness basically meant we had a front three contributing hardly anything, and in hindsight we would have been much better with an attacking three of Crouch, Babel and Benayoun.

As is the norm these days, there were several contentious issues concerning Rafa’s team selection and substitutions. The one thing I really couldn’t understand was why Babel didn’t start. This was possibly the first time this season we’ve played the system that Ryan is used to, with three strikers, so it was baffling that he wasn’t given the chance to show what he could do, especially as Voronin hasn’t been pulling up any trees recently.

Benayoun would also have given us a bit more creativity, but to me it looks as though Rafa has gone for workrate above anything else. Maybe he wanted to stop their full backs from going forward, or maybe he felt Kuyt and Voronin would give us more of a goal threat, I don’t know.

Then there’s the substitutions. Alonso’s departure really killed us, and questions will be asked as to why Arbeloa was used as a direct replacement for Xabi. He could have gone left back, with Riise pushing further forward and Gerrard dropping back into the middle in a 4-4-2. Looking at it now, that would surely have been the better option, but I have to admit that when it became clear Xabi couldn’t carry on, I automatically assumed Arbeloa would go into midfield. It never even entered my head that Rafa would do anything else, as he will have wanted to keep the shape of the team.

Looking back, it was a mistake as not only did it reduce our attacking capabilities, but it was Arbeloa who failed to track Fabregas for their equaliser. That was a basic error, and he should have gone with the run, but in his defence how often has he ever been in that situation? It doesn’t come natural to him to track runners from the half way line, as he’s usually in the back four.

Presumably those who defended Rafa’s decision to sub Gerrard at Goodison because he got the result in the end will be equally as quick to condemn him for this one?

Personally I just think we were a bit unlucky against Arsenal. Yes, we can point to things like team selection, substitutions, individual errors or the fact that maybe we just aren’t good enough. All of those arguments carry some weight, but at the same time we could easily have won this game with a bit of good fortune. Crouch had a few good efforts that on another day might have gone in, Gerrard had a chance at the end that could have won it for us, and Riise was inches away from a spectacular winner as well.

Of course, Arsenal can say the same. They hit the woodwork twice and spurned the rebounds, Pepe made a terrific save in the first half and they had other chances. The game could have gone either way, which is why I’m not THAT disheartened by it. It’s not like it was completely one sided.

We started the game quite well, playing at a high tempo and not letting Arsenal settle. Gerrard was the key to it, he was involved in everything and predictably it was him that gave us the lead. Alonso was hacked down by Fabregas on the edge of the box, in an incident remarkably similar to one last season (also against Arsenal I think) that went unpunished. This time we got the free kick, and when it was laid off to Gerrard he lashed it past the wall and beat Almunia all ends up.

Interestingly, Reina had spotted something as Almunia lined up his wall, and he raced to the half way line to give Sami some information to pass on to Gerrard. When the ball hit the net, Pepe went nuts, which suggests that they’d followed his suggestion.

The game was pretty much end to end in the first half. Arsenal had most of the ball, and played some eye catching football, but we always looked like we had another goal in us, mainly when Gerrard got near their penalty box. One spectacular volley forced Almunia into a smart save, whilst at the other end Pepe was out quickly to foil Hleb.

There was another scary moment at the Kop end when Reina raced out to meet Rosicky, but didn’t get there and the ball was sent flying across the goalmouth towards Hyypia. Usually he’d have put the ball behind for a corner, but with own goals in his two previous outings you could almost see what he was thinking when he just knocked the ball back into the area instead. Fortunately it was met by one of his team-mates and the danger was cleared.

We were in front, but we spent a lot of the game at full stretch trying to keep them at bay. The movement of all their midfielders was really impressive, and we needed some colossal performances from Carragher and Mascherano to keep us in front. Adebayor is a real handful, and Carra had to put in a superhuman effort to stay with him at times. Adebayor is stronger and quicker than Carra, but sheer willpower from the vice captain gave him the edge in what was a titanic battle.

Crouch’s introduction gave us a much needed outlet up front, and he produced his best performance of the season so far. He hit a hat-trick against Arsenal last season, and could have repeated the feat this time with a bit more luck.

I’ve written a few times this season that Crouch can’t have too many complaints about his lack of starts, as he hasn’t done enough when he has played. However, he does have a right to complain when he’s only given ten minutes at the end of games when it’s been glaringly obvious that we’ve needed him on earlier.

Neither Kuyt nor Voronin have done enough to keep him on the sidelines, but Rafa has stubbornly refused to give Crouch his chance. I don’t know what his beef with the big man is, but for me he’s let it get in the way of the best interests of the team recently. Giving Crouch ten minutes in Turkey was disgraceful, and you can be sure the Besiktas players were delighted not to have had to face him.

Crouch has not responded too well to Benitez’s treatment of him, and has looked like he’s been sulking a bit at times. I just think it’s a real shame how their relationship seems to have broken down, because when Crouch was struggling it was his manager’s confidence in him that got him through. Crouch needs that faith from Benitez again, whilst Benitez needs an in form Peter Crouch because for me he’s still potentially the best partner for Torres, and definitely a twenty goal a season striker.

Maybe it’s too late, and a parting of the ways is inevitable, but Crouch’s performance against Arsenal suggests that perhaps he’s still up for the battle. Hopefully Benitez will give him the same opportunities he’s given Kuyt and Voronin recently. If he does, you can be sure Crouch will score more goals than both of them put together.

He almost scored the goal of the season so far but for a great save by Almunia. He brought the ball down on his chest, took it in his stride and unleashed a venomous shot that seemed destined for the far corner because the Gunners keeper turned it round the post.

Arsenal’s centre backs had been very comfortable in the first half due to Torres’ lack of fitness, but now they knew they were in a game. Crouch had another good chance when Voronin’s fine through ball sent him clear, but he dragged his shot just wide.

I felt we were looking relatively comfortable at this point. Of course Arsenal were still dangerous and had to be watched (such as when Eboue hit the post and Fanregas ballooned the rebound wide of an empty net), but we looked like we had a second goal in us and once Benayoun replaced Voronin I felt that gave us the little bit of extra guile that could prove decisive. I would also liked to have seen Babel replace Kuyt, as his pace would have given us a real weapon on the counter attack, but any hope of that happening disappeared when Alonso was forced off.

I haven’t seen the incident on TV, so I don ‘t know exactly what happened. I was too busy screaming at the referee (who was dreadful by the way) for awarding a free-kick against him when for me he did nothing wrong as he attacked Gerrard’s dipping free-kick. Then when Xabi stayed down the whole stadium seemed to mutter a collective ‘oh shit’.

He may not have had an outstanding game, and at times early on he did understandably look a little off the pace, but his importance to us can’t be underestimated. He makes us tick, he sets the tempo to our play, and defensively he’s miles better then he’s ever given credit for. With him, Mascherano and Gerrard in the same midfield we’re more than a match for anyone.

When he was replaced by Arbeloa, it signalled our intent to just hang onto what we had. It was understandable given the circumstances, as we desperately needed the three points and if we could have hung on it would have been a massive win.

With ten minutes to go I was thinking that we looked to have weathered the storm, but out of nothing Fabregas ran onto a pass from Hleb and caught Pepe off guard with an early shot that found the corner. It was a hammer blow, and Arsenal will have fancied themselves to go on and win it after that, but I thought we rallied well and had a good go ourselves. At this point we were effectively playing with ten men, as the brilliant Mascherano had picked up a knock after being caught with a late tackle that went unpunished.

He hobbled around for the final ten minutes or so, clearly in pain and unable to run, yet he still managed to get some vital tackles in and still managed to play some good passes. He was an absolute giant in this game, but then the better the opposition the better he plays.

The otherwise dreadful John Arne Riise almost won it for us with a volley from the edge of the box, and Kuyt also went close after latching on to one of numerous excellent flick ons by Crouch. Then right at the death, Crouch diverted the ball into the path of the marauding Gerrard, and a dramatic late winner looked on the cards until Gallas made a terrific block.

A draw was a fair result, and both sides should be relatively happy with it under the circumstances. In an ideal world I’d love to see us playing football the way Arsenal do, but that’s not going to happen as it’s not Rafa’s style. What we do have is character and resilience, and when we’re not playing well this is what we rely on to get us through. When Arsenal’s pretty football goes off the boil we’ll see what they have left to fall back on, as they won’t play to this standard for an entire season.

These are tough times for us, as we are struggling to cope with the absence of injured players. We should have a big enough squad to cope, but clearly we don’t as Agger, Alonso and Torres have been desperately missed. We need those three fit and playing, and when they are I think we’ll be alright.

At the moment it looks like Arsenal, Chelsea and the mancs are all light years ahead of us as they are scoring goals for fun and playing excellent football. We’re plodding along, grinding out draws and wins in the Premiership and losing in Europe. It doesn’t look good right now, but things can change quickly and we just have to try and battle through this tough period.

I liked what I saw from the team in terms of effort and commitment against the Gunners, and for all the plaudits Arsenal are getting the bottom line is they didn’t beat us. The next time we meet, hopefully we’ll be in better form and then let’s see what happens.

We’re in a really bad spell, but despite that we’re not in bad shape when you look at the table. We’re hanging in there, and we need to scrap for every point until our form returns. I just hope that it’s soon.

Team: Reina; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Riise; Mascherano, Alonso (Arbeloa), Gerrard; Kuyt, Torres (Crouch), Voronin (Benayoun):